a fair
match for Allis Porter. He was not a bad man as the world understood
him; he did not profess Christianity, but, on the other hand, his life
was extremely respectable; he did not drink; he was not given to
profane language; even in racing his presence seemed to lend an air of
respectability to the sport, and it was generally supposed that he raced
purely for relaxation. In truth, it seemed to him that his marriage with
Allis would be a deuced good thing for the Porters.

In actuality there were just two things that stood in the way--two
things which his position and wealth could not obviate--his age, and the
Porter pride. If Porter had not been dubbed "Honest John" early in life,
he might have been saddled with "Proud Porter" later on. The pride
had come up out of old Kentucky with all the other useless things--the
horse-racing, and the inability to make money, and the fancy for keeping
a promise. Something whispered to Crane that Allis would never come to
him simply out of love; it might be regard, esteem, a desire to please
her parents, a bowing to the evident decree of fate. Perhaps even the
very difficulty of conquest made Crane the more determined to win, and
made him hasten slowly.

IX

As a rule few visitors went to Ringwood.

John Porter had been too interested in his horses and his home life to
care much for social matters. Mrs. Porter was a home-body, too, caring
nothing at all for society--at best there was but little of it in
Brookfield--except where it was connected with church work. Perhaps that
was one reason why Allis had grown so close into her father's life. It
was a very small, self-contained household.

Mike Gaynor had become attached to the staff at Ringwood this winter as
a sort of assistant trainer to Porter. Dixon only trained the Ringwood
horses during the racing season, Porter always supervising them in
winter quarters. Perhaps it was Porter's great cloud of evil fortune
which had cast its sinister influence over Mike because of his sympathy
for the master of Ringwood; certain it is that the autumn found him
quite "on his uppers," as he graphically described his financial
standing. An arrangement was made by which Mike's disconsolate horses
were fed at Ringwood, and he took care of both strings. This delighted
Allis, for she had full confidence in Gaynor's integrity and good sense.

The early winter brought two visitors to Ringwood--Crane, who came quite
often, and Mortimer,